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Vodafone is a mobile network operator headquartered in Berkshire, England, UK. It is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world by turnover and has a market value of about £75 billion (August 2008). Vodafone currently has operations in 25 countries and partner networks in a further 42 countries.
The name Vodafone comes from Vo ice da ta fone , chosen by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones."
As of 2006 Vodafone had an estimated 260 million customers in 25 markets across 5 continents. On this measure, it is the second largest mobile telecom group in the world behind China Mobile.
Vodafone in Europe
History
In 1982 Racal Electronics plc's subsidiary Racal Strategic Radio Ltd. won one of two UK cellular telephone network licences. The network, known as Racal Vodafone was 80% owned by Racal, with Millicom and the Hambros Technology Trust owning 15% and 5% respectively. Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985. Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal Telecommunications Group Limited in 1985. On 29 December 1986 Racal Electronics bought out the minority shareholders of Vodafone for GB£110 million.
In September 1988 the company was again renamed Racal Telecom and on 26 October 1988 Racal Electronics floated 20% of the company. The flotation valued Racal Telecom at GB£1.7 billion. On 16 September 1991 Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics as Vodafone Group.
In July 1996 Vodafone acquired the two thirds of Talkland it did not already own for £30.6 million. On 19 November 1996, in a defensive move, Vodafone purchased Peoples Phone for £77 million, a 181 store chain whose customers were overwhelmingly using Vodafone's network. In a similar move the company acquired the 80% of Astec Communications that it did not own, a service provider with 21 stores.
In 1997 Vodafone introduced its Speechmark logo, as it is a quotation mark in a circle; the O's in the Vodafone logotype are opening and closing quotation marks, suggesting conversation.
On 29 June 1999 Vodafone completed its purchase of AirTouch Communications, Inc. and changed its name to Vodafone Airtouch plc . Trading of the new company commenced on 30 June 1999. To approve the merger, Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in E-Plus Mobilfunk. The acquisition gave Vodafone a 35% share of Mannesmann, owner of the largest German mobile network.
On 21 September 1999 Vodafone agreed to merge its U.S. wireless assets with those of Bell Atlantic Corp to form Verizon Wireless. The merger was completed on 4 April 2000.
In November 1999 Vodafone made an unsolicited bid for Mannesmann, which was rejected. Vodafone's interest in Mannesmann had been increased by the latter's purchase of Orange, the UK mobile operator. Chris Gent would later say Mannesmann's move into the UK broke a "gentleman's agreement" not to compete in each other's home territory. The hostile takeover provoked strong protest in Germany and a "titanic struggle" which saw Mannesmann resist Vodafone's efforts. However, on 3 February 2000 the Mannesmann board agreed to an increased offer of £112bn, then the largest corporate merger ever. The EU approved the merger in April 2000. The conglomerate was subsequently broken up and all manufacturing related operations sold off.
On 28 July 2000 the Company reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group Plc . In April 2001 the first 3G voice call was made on Vodafone United Kingdom's 3G network.
In 2001 the Company took over Eircell , then part of eircom in Ireland, and rebranded it as Vodafone Ireland. It then went on to acquire Japan's third-largest mobile operator J-Phone, which had introduced camera phones first in Japan.
On 17 December 2001 Vodafone introduced the concept of "Partner Networks" by signing TDC Mobil of Denmark. The new concept involved the introduction of Vodafone international services to the local market, without the need of investment by Vodafone. The concept would be used to extend the Vodafone brand and services into markets where it does not have stakes in local operators. Vodafone services would be marketed under the dual-brand scheme, where the Vodafone brand is added at the end of the local brand. (i.e., TDC Mobil-Vodafone etc.)
In February 2002 Finland was added into the mobile community, as Radiolinja is signed as a Partner Network. Radiolinja later changed its named to Elisa. Later that year the Company rebranded Japan's J-sky mobile internet service as Vodafone live! and on 3 December 2002 the Vodafone brand was introduced in the Estonian market with signing of a Partner Network Agreement with Radiolinja (Eesti). Radiolinja (Eesti) later changed its name to Elisa.
On 7 January 2003 the Company signed a group-wide Partner agreement with mobilkom Austria. As a result, Austria, Croatia, and Slovenia were added to the community. In April 2003 Og Vodafone was introduced in the Icelandic market and in May 2003 Vodafone Italy (Omnitel Pronto-Italia) was rebranded Vodafone Italy. On 21 July 2003 Lithuania was added to the community, with the signing of a Partner Network agreement with Bitė.
In February 2004 Vodafone signed a Partner Network Agreement with Luxembourg's LuxGSM and a Partner Network Agreement with Cyta of Cyprus. Cyta agreed to rename its mobile phone operations to Cytamobile-Vodafone. In April 2004 the Company purchased Singlepoint airtime provider from John Caudwell (Caudwell Group) and approx 1.5million customers onto its base for £405million, adding sites in Stoke on Trent (England) to existing sites in Newbury (HQ), Birmingham, Warrington and Banbury. In November 2004 Vodafone introduced 3G services into Europe.
In June 2005 the Company increased its participation in Romania's Connex to 99% and also bought the Czech mobile operator Oskar. On 1 July 2005 Oskar of the Czech Republic was rebranded as Oskar-Vodafone. Later that year on 17 October 2005 Vodafone Portugal launched a revised logo, using new text designed by Dalton Maag, and a 3D version of the Speechmark logo, but still retaining a red background and white writing (or vice versa). Also, various operating companies started to drop the use of the SIM card pattern in the company logo. (The rebranding of Oskar-Vodafone and Connex-Vodafone also does not use the SIM card pattern.) A custom typeface by Dalton Maag (based on their font family InterFace) formed part of the new identity.
On 28 October 2005 Connex in Romania was rebranded as Connex-Vodafone and on 31 October 2005 the Company reached an agreement to sell Vodafone Sweden to Telenor for approximately €1 billion. After the sale, Vodafone Sweden became a Partner Network. In December 2005 Vodafone won an auction to buy Turkey's second-largest mobile phone company, Telsim, for $4.5 billion. In December 2005 Vodafone Spain became the second member of the group to adopt the revised logo: it was phased in over the following six months in other countries.
In 2006 the Company rebranded its Stoke-on-Trent site as Stoke Premier Centre, a centre of expertise for the company dealing with Customer Care for its higher value customers, technical support, sales and credit control. All cancellations and upgrades started to be dealt with by this call centre. On 5 January 2006 Vodafone announced the completion of the sale of Vodafone Sweden to Telenor. On February 2006 the Company closed its Birmingham Call Centre. In 1 February 2006 Oskar Vodafone became Vodafone Czech Republic, adopting the revised logo and on 22 February 2006 the Company announced that it was extending its footprint to Bulgaria with the signing of Partner Network Agreement with Mobiltel, which is part of mobilkom Austria group.
On 12 March 2006 former chief, Sir Christopher Gent, who was appointed the honorary post Chairman for Life in 2003, quits following rumours of boardroom rifts. In April 2006 the Company announced that it has signed an extension to its Partner Network Agreement with BITE Group, enabling its Latvian subsidiary "BITE Latvija" to become the latest member of Vodafone's global partner community. Also in April 2006 Vodafone Sweden changed its name to Telenor Sverige AB and Connex-Vodafone became Vodafone Romania, also adopting the new logo. On 30 May 2006 Vodafone announced the biggest loss in British corporate history (£14.9 billion) and plans to cut 400 jobs; it reported one-off costs of £23.5 billion due to the revaluation of its Mannesmann subsidiary. On 24 July 2006 the respected head of Vodafone Europe, Bill Morrow, quit unexpectedly and on 25 August 2006 the Company announced the sale of its 25% stake in Belgium's Proximus for €2 billion. After the deal, Proximus was still part of the community as a Partner Network. On 5 October 2006 Vodafone announced the first single brand partnership with Og Vodafone which would operate under the name Vodafone Iceland and on 19 December 2006 the Company announced the sale of its 25% stake in Switzerland's Swisscom for CHF4.25 billion (£1.8 billion). After the deal, Swisscom would still be part of the community as a Partner Network. Finally in December 2006 the Company completed the acquisit
Vodafone is understood to have clinched a strategic partnership with Mobile TeleSystems, the largest mobile phone operator in Russia, as it searches for growth in emerging markets.The deal, which Moscow-based MTS is expected to announce this morning, will see Vodafone sign up MTS as a “partner network” to bring a range of Vodafone services into R
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